BRIAN Talbot praised his players' work ethic and was generally satisfied to take a point from Latics' visit to play-off chasing Luton Town.

He said: "I am disappointed Luton scored so quickly but I felt we worked hard, we battled them and, in the finish, we could have won it."

"I would say we had the best chance of the game late on which JJ (Jermaine Johnson) made with his pace and then Dean Crowe, whose first touch maybe let him down, pulled it across the keeper."

"Overall though, I can't complain. The effort and commitment was there and I can't ask for anything more from the players."

Talbot praised debutant Dean Crowe and John Eyre for their contributions in playing out of position.

Crowe, normally a striker, was asked to play wide on the right after Jermaine Johnson reported back fatigued from international duty with Jamaica. Eyre switched from midfield to lead the forward line.

Talbot said: "I think (Dean) Crowe did okay. His position is really up front, he plays off a big man and we haven't really got a big player available at the moment."

"Was his goal a shot, a cross or lucky? I think maybe it was a cross that went in but we will take them any way that we can."

"I thought John Eyre did well, he did a battling job and held it up. I put him there because I think it's unfair to ask young lads to lead your line."

"To rely on two players with very limited experience (Scott Vernon and Wes Wilkinson) to get you out of trouble is not fair."

"John gives you that experience, gives you a bit of leadership and knows how to manipulate with his body so he gives you a little bit more opportunity to get up the pitch."

Despite coming up against a powerful partnership in Steve Howard and Enoch Showunmi, Talbot was also encouraged by his team's defending after a series of errors the previous weekend against Wycombe Wanderers.

"We have worked hard this week in training and last week was my first game where the defence had not played well," he said.

"I thought Gareth Owen and Will Haining did very well against two difficult players who are a handful."

"Obviously there was just one lapse when they scored on the back post but other than that they did their job manfully and stuck to the task."